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VANish

Pleasant Surprise with Twists

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Main Plot Points:

Hoping to score a hefty ransom for the safe return of his daughter, three amateur thugs kidnap Emma Rodriguez from the home of her father, drug kingpin Carlos Rodriguez, and force her to record a video of herself pleading for her life. But what they don’t know is that Emma is all but estranged from her notorious father, and the murderous blood that made Carlos a name to fear in the underworld also runs through her veins.

As time ticks away and the unlucky threesome find themselves in more and more danger in the form of the police, crime bosses, and Carlos himself, they must find a way to keep their once-perfect plan in order before all hell breaks loose.

Featuring standout performances and a story that puts a unique new spin on the action thriller, Vanish is a high-octane trip through a no-man’s-land where trouble lurks behind every turn of its twisting and twisted plot.

What We Thought:

VANish is a nice little surprise.

At first you’re thinking it’s the same old thing you’ve seen a thousand times before. A couple of guys kidnap a girl and try to get millions off her father. But then the layers start to peel away.

She wasn’t kidnapped just for the money. One of the kidnappers has his own personal demons and her father isn’t your run of the mill rich Los Angeles type. Even using social media to find prey was an interesting new take.

What also separates it from being just another kidnapping film is that the majority of the movie takes place in a van. A lot of single location styled films can lose my interest, but I liked this one. If you remember the Charlie Sheen film The Chase, it reminded me of that in the way that enough was going on story wise to hold my attention.

Each character brings something into the story which adds a turn or twist. It even had me thinking about what was going to happen and I was wrong. Then with the couple of action scenes in it, it goes grindhouse style with blood and gore that definitely worked for me.

The one negative about the film, they use Danny Trejo and Tony Todd’s names on the box cover and they are barely in it. It happens all the time especially if you watch as many VODs and DVDs that I do. I understand why they do it (name recognition gets people to watch your film), but the 3 kidnappers and kidnapped woman are the focus of the film.

Speaking of the kidnapped woman, how come no one has told me about Maiara Walsh before? Man is she hot. And those eyes? They could probably melt all the snow in the Boston right now. And she’s a pretty good actress who really captured this role.

VANish was a pleasant surprise. It’s not perfect or anything, but for a film I had never heard of, it was enjoyable. I can see it becoming popular on Netflix and DVD/VOD.